Join the Choir Invisible

May I reach

That purest heaven, be to other souls

The cup of strength in some great agony,

Enkindle generous ardour, feed pure love,

Be the sweet presence of a good diffused,

And in diffusion ever more intense!

So shall I join the choir invisible

Whose music is the gladness of the world.

          -George Eliot

This speaks to me of the amazing quiet generousity of

the anonymous people of 12 step programs.

They share their Spirituality lovingly and openly

with those who are seeking ...

ever available, sharing freely and without expectation.

Through that fellowship,

lives are completely transformed!!

Patt always said she wanted to give until she was all used up,

and so she did.

She has joined the choir invisible,

and her music lives on in hundreds of lives

as gladness in this world.

in gratitude,

Cate

Today, I remember!

Do not fear the truth,

Hard as it may appear,

Grievously as it may hurt,

It is still right

And you were born for it.

If you go out to meet

And love it,

Let it exercise your mind,

It is your best friend

And closest sister.

-Dom Helder Camara

 “The Desert is Fertile”

Surrender...

again and again this simple word describes the call.

Be it the still small voice or the rumbling voice of thunder,
the voice is ALWAYS there IF I am able to listen.

Surrender means "Thy" way, not "my" way.

The more I live that out,
the more peaceful and joyous my journey.

When I receive a call, it ALWAYS comes with the grace to live it out!
The quicker I say "YES" , the smoother the transition.

They say you could sum up the Big Book into one word,
SURRENDER!
Most of us need 12 steps to get there,
and a lifetime of daily practice to stay there ...
cause, it is so easy to forget,

and then, you remember!  :)

Today, I remember, and I am so very grateful!!
Cate

As the old saying goes: “If not now, when? If not you, who?”

The Surprise of Delight

Before me, may it be delightful.

Behind me, may it be delightful.

Around me, may it be delightful.

Below me, may it be delightful.

Above me, may it be delightful.

All, may it be delightful.

               -Navajo  Prayer

I can picture this Navajo prayer being composed while perched on top

of  a towering rock while surrounded by a vast green valley visible on all sides below,

 and a clear blue sky dressed with puffy puffy white clouds all above. 

In that space, in that moment, one would surely be surounded by delight!

I pondered the discovery of being surrounded by delight

in a more challenging time,

and the strangest memory came to me.

I remembered being at the Stations of the Cross as a young Nun

just a few weeks after my Mother had died from cancer.

There was a moment in the prayer where we were praying for those who were no longer

with us, and my breath seemed to pass away for a moment.

Then, I felt the warmth of a hand reaching forward from  behind me

and softly resting on my shoulder....softly and gently pulling me back to the present

living, loving moment. 

It was a program friend who had quietly slipped into the church to join us in prayer.

 It was the simplest of moments,

but one that has stayed alive with me for these many years.

It was as if the God within, and the God with Skin, and the Body of Christ that is Chuch all came together as ONE ... and I felt at complete peace and complete connection and complete Oneness.

What a strange moment to be called a memory of delight.  I wonder what that is about?

  I think it is about love ...

at that very moment I felt love enter into a a painful wound of loss,

and the love was healing and warming and unexpected...

yes, it was delightful.

What a surpise!

Love, Cate



Full of Mud ... make mud pies?

By wishes alone you cannot a livelihood make,

Roll up your sleeves, send your bucket down

With those that others send.

Then behold!

At times, it will come up full,

Full to the brim;

At times full with mud,

And perhaps a little water.

                -ABD AL-ASWALD AL-DUWALI

What a fun reminder that I am simply called to do my part,

and to live and accept life on life's terms,

and can choose to be grateful for whatever my bucket brings :)

If I want to win the lottery, I do need to buy a ticket! 

If I want to live in conscious contact with God, I do need to invest my time in that relationship!

I can choose to put forth the effort needed to toss in my bucket,

but there are no guarantees what my bucket will bring back to me!

So, if it brings much needed water, I can be grateful!

If it brings a bucket full of mud, I can be grateful too,

and make mud pies.

practice...practice...and practice again

http://www.mfalstreau.com/index.html

I vow to practice breathing and smiling,

Looking deeply into things.

I vow to understand living beings and their suffering,

To cultivate compassion and loving kindness,

And to practice joy and equanimity.

        -Thich Nhat Hanh

I smile as I read this tonight,

this makes so much sense ...

and so easily I forget!

Just how many vows have I made,

only to get swept up into the havoc of daily life.

Yet, these are great vows ...worth taking again and again.

Each time I take them,

I practice living them out for a little bit longer.

I practice and I practice,

and one day I realize that I truly remember,

and the vows have become a part of who I am.

Kinda makes me wish I would have been more willing to practice

the piano and the violin when I was a kid  :)

Practice really can become presence!!!

Cate

I hope to be in harmony

The creative energy of Heaven

   Is our paternal source.

The receptive energy of Earth

   Is our maternal source.

All people are the offspring

   Of the same universal Origin.

Within my true nature

   Are the same virtues

   As those of the inspired sages …

I have love for all people

   Who are in their “winter” years

    And wish them to live enjoyably.

I treat all young ones kindly

   And help them, to have a good life.

The sick and needy are also

   My brothers and sisters

   So I protect and shelter

   Them under my wings.

I assist the talented

   And do not waste my own talents …

By knowing the principles of change

    And always doing my best,

    I hope to be in harmony

    With the enduring Will of the universe.

                -   From Workbook for Spiritual Development

                            Of all people.  P.  161-162

This lovely teaching reflects one of the greatest gifts I have received

through the 12 step spirituality.  Those simple words ... "love and tolerance 

is our code"  and   ...

"Though we did not like their symptoms and the way these disturbed us, they, like ourselves, were sick too. We asked God to help us show them the same tolerance, pity, and patience that we would cheerfully grant a sick friend. When a person offended we said to ourselves, "This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done."

We avoid retaliation or argument. We wouldn't treat sick people that way. If we do, we destroy our chance of being helpful. We cannot be helpful to all people, but at least God will show us how to take a kindly and tolerant view of each and every one."  AABB p. 67

This was my invitation to live in and through "Oneness" !  This was my first experience of Namaste'.  This made all the difference for me in growing towards living in harmony with all. 

A very wise woman often told me that there are only two things happening at any  time .. a person is either loving or looking for love.  So, the person who feels so far removed from real love can be so seemingly broken as they look for love in all the wrong places.  No matter what that person does or does not do, this reality calls out compassion rather than judgement.     But for the grace of God go any of us ....

So, as the offspring of the creative energy of heaven and the receptive energy  of earth ...

we are born of love and we are all siblings on this journey of life! 

May we journey together in peace and unity ... each and every ONE!!!

In-joy this day!!!   Cate

She decided to love herself ...

We thank you now for love, the great, the miraculous

gift.  For love in the body that comforts, for love in the

emotional body that delights and frustrates and

instructs, for love of our sacred circle of friends, for

love in the spirit beyond all walls and wounds, bounds

and ends.

   Love, we thank you for love, love that stirs and

soothes us, love that gathers us into all joy and delivers

us from all brokenness.  Love that hears the soundless

language, love that imagines and dreams, that can

conquer all and willingly surrenders everything.  Love

that brought us into our lives and love that will carry us

home.

-      Daphne Rose Kingma

(From the hourglass series by Marylou Falstreau)

http://mfalstreau.3dcartstores.com/Women-and-the-Hourglass-Cards_c_9.html

I think that learning to love myself has been the most difficult love of all.

In the generation of my formative years, we did not speak of love,

particularly love of self.  In fact, I always thought that was a negative and self centered sort of thing!  It was most holy to be selfless, invisible, sacrificing self silently for others ...taking care of youself last.  I could not figure out how loving yourself  could fit in with that presentation of self!

I lived many decades before I finally began to embrace this new idea ...

that I must love myself first, before I was really able to love others fully.

This calls me to take loving care of myself so that I can be present and available to others.

This calls me to learn to say "no" some of the time, 

 so that I can more completely say "YES" the rest f the time.

This calls my to be loving and accepting of myself

 exactly as I am in the present moment,

knowing that God loves me in the now moment, no matter what!

Once I began to receive this gift from God,

I  knew it was the greatest gift I could share with others.

I hope you find yourself surrounded by love this day,

beginning with a deep love for youself,

a love that is lived out in awareness of the great love that is our God!

Love, Cate